Safe Bet
by bluemoonmaverick
Summary: Jennifer and Teyla wager that they have better instincts than John and Rodney; meanwhile, the team searches for an intruder in Atlantis. Tag to Trio. Cover art by XFChemist. **Sam & Jack Multimedia Awards Nominee - Sam Centric (2015)**
1. Chapter 1

**A/N - Yeah, I know, my list of applicable genres is a little...unusual, and Trio was an Atlantis episode, not SG-1. Just go with it, okay? Also, this tag assumes the infamous deleted scene from Trio was never cut. If you've been living under a rock and haven't seen it, just search for "Trio deleted scene" and enjoy! **

**With thanks to BethanyActually and MidKnight Rider for the beta.**

Chapter 1

Jennifer smiled at Rodney as he set his tray on the commissary table and took a seat across from hers. She couldn't help but notice that eating lunch together was starting to become a regular thing, at least since they and Colonel Carter had almost died in the abandoned Genii mining facility several weeks ago.

Perhaps even more interesting, though, was that she was actually starting to look forward to their meals together. In fact, she had been thinking a lot about their experience over the past month, and while she was reluctant to examine her feelings for Rodney too closely, she had given a great deal of thought to her conversation with Colonel Carter, someone she admired greatly but, if truth be told, feared just a little. Still, when they'd been in that rickety structure together, she'd let down her guard, and from that point on, Jennifer couldn't stop wondering about the woman behind the officer.

Jennifer leaned across the table toward Rodney, her voice low. "So, ever since we fell in that hole, I've been trying to figure it out."

Rodney took a large bite of his sandwich. "Figure what out?" he asked, with a mouth full of food.

"Who Colonel Carter is seeing," Jennifer replied in a conspiratorial tone.

"What?" Rodney exclaimed, and immediately began choking.

Jennifer pushed a glass of water his direction. "Colonel Carter. She's apparently got someone back home. Any idea who it is?"

"No," Rodney replied, with an emphatic shake of his head. "I mean, _no_, she's not seeing anyone."

Jennifer scowled at him. "How do you know?"

"I just know," he stated definitively.

Jennifer leaned in again, as if sharing a great secret. "That's not what she told me. She said she was seeing a man who lives in Washington who is close to retirement. She said it was 'complicated.'"

Rodney looked genuinely surprised. "She did?"

"Yep. So do you know who it is?"

"I...no," he responded, clearly flustered by the news.

Something about the way Rodney refused to believe that Colonel Carter was involved with someone else rankled Jennifer, but she was saved from having to explore that particular reaction further by the arrival of Colonel Sheppard, who plunked his tray down next to Rodney's.

"Hey guys," he greeted the two of them, and immediately began to dig in to his lunch. That's when Jennifer realized she now had another potential source of information. She wasted no time.

"Colonel Sheppard, do you know any older men who live in Washington who might know Colonel Carter?"

John looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, there's General O'Neill, though I certainly wouldn't call him old, at least not to his face."

"Oh!" she exclaimed. She had heard of the infamous General, of course, but she had never met the man behind the legend. "So, they're close?"

"Well, yeah," John continued. "They go back to the beginning of the program. He was her commanding officer for...well, for a long time, first on SG-1, then later as commander of the SGC, all before he became head of Homeworld Security."

"Really..." she replied, clearly intrigued.

Rodney began shaking his head again. "Uh uh. No way. It's not him. Trust me; I'd know."

"Why couldn't it be him?" Jennifer asked, slightly indignant - on Colonel Carter's behalf, of course.

The scientist drew himself up tall, as though expounding on the virtues of base 8 math. "Well, for starters, she's way too smart for him. He's typical military - all muscle, no brains." He glanced sideways at John. "No offense."

John just glared at him. "That's right, Rodney - no brains required, not even for generals."

"Is he handsome?" Jennifer asked John, completely ignoring Rodney.

The military man looked slightly uncomfortable. "Uh, not really my area."

"It's not him!" Rodney insisted.

But John was saved from further interrogation by the arrival of Teyla, who sat down next to Jennifer.

"Teyla," Jennifer began, "you've met General O'Neill. Would you say he's handsome?"

"Yes, he's quite handsome," she replied without hesitation. Rodney rolled his eyes. "Why?"

Jennifer grinned. "I think he and Colonel Carter are an item."

"Oh?"

"Sorry Dr. Keller," John interrupted, "but I don't think so."

"Why not?" Jennifer asked, this time genuinely curious as to his answer.

"He and the Colonel are both military. They're in the same chain of command. That's a big no-no in the Air Force."

"See!" Rodney exclaimed, clearly excited by his unexpected ally. "I told you."

Jennifer, however, was unwilling to give up the idea of Colonel Carter and General O'Neill so easily. "But maybe that's what makes it complicated. And that's why she's waiting for him to retire." She was warming to her subject now. "Think about it - all those years serving together, by each other's side through thick and thin. They've probably been in love for years..."

"A forbidden love," Teyla added with a sly smile.

"Right!" Jennifer became downright dreamy-eyed. "It's so romantic..."

"She is NOT in love with him," Rodney insisted.

John shook his head. "Yeah, I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I have to agree with Rodney."

Jennifer glanced at Teyla, who gave her a quick nod, before turning to face John and Rodney. "Care to bet on it?"

John and Rodney exchanged a glance of their own, before John replied, "You're on."

"Okay," Jennifer paused to think of a suitable reward for her insight. "If we're right, the two of you have to give Teyla and me your dessert rations for the next six weeks."

John nodded his agreement to their terms. "And if we're right, you and Teyla have to-"

"Rub our feet every day for the next month!" Rodney interjected.

"Ew, no!" Jennifer exclaimed, before even Teyla had a chance to object.

"What? You're a doctor, aren't you?"

But John spoke quickly to avoid certain disaster. "You have to buy us the first round at every happy hour for the next six weeks."

"Deal," Teyla responded immediately.

"So," John asked. "How do we find out if Colonel Carter and General O'Neill are an item?"

Jennifer shook her head. "No idea."

At that moment, John's radio crackled to life with the voice of Colonel Carter herself. "Colonel Sheppard, can you join me in the control room?"

John stood. "On my way."

"Is McKay with you?" she asked.

"He is."

"Better bring him, too."

With a hasty good-bye to their friends, John and Rodney quickly made their way to the control room, where they found Sam standing at Chuck's side, looking at the console with a furrowed brow.

"Problem, Colonel?" John asked as he approached.

Sam turned to address him, somewhat less than gracefully since she still had a walking cast on her right leg. "I'm not sure. We were just running some diagnostics on the City's systems, when we came across something strange."

Rodney muscled his way to the front to get a better look at the console. "What?"

"It's this here," Sam replied, pointing to a numerical display. "It indicates that the City is currently occupied by 352 individuals."

Rodney shrugged. "Yeah, so?"

"According to our records, we only have 351 people on Atlantis."

"So, that would mean-" John began.

Sam nodded. "We have an intruder."

TBC...


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

To say John was surprised by the news that they had been infiltrated was an understatement. After all, he was the person responsible for the safety of the City, and up until that point he'd felt fairly confident that Atlantis was secure.

"Is there anything that indicates where the intruder's located?" he asked, quickly recovering himself.

Chuck responded without hesitation, and John appreciated the technician's direct answer. "Maybe. But I haven't been able to get the system to give me that information yet."

"I was hoping you might be able to help with that, Rodney," Sam said to their resident chief scientist, technical guru, and general pain-in-the-ass.

Rodney instantly adopted his haughty-professor expression. "Well, of course. It's simple, really-"

"Get Zelenka to assist," Sam said, cutting him off, and John only had a moment to appreciate the scientist's slightly wounded look before his superior turned her attention to him. "In the meantime, Colonel Sheppard, I'd like you to coordinate guards for some of our more sensitive areas - here in the control room, main power, the armory, and the science labs, just to be safe. I'd also like you to try to find out where the intruder entered the City."

He nodded. "Will do, Colonel, though it's possible he was - and still is - cloaked. If that's the case, he could be anywhere."

"I might be able to modify the City's particle wave scanner to see if we can expose him," Rodney added, ever eager to please their blond-haired commander.

"Do it," she replied, her voice reflecting an easy confidence.

John could certainly understand Rodney's obsession with Sam. She was the whole package: smart, beautiful, and level three advanced in hand-to-hand combat to boot. For a moment he wondered whether Jennifer and Teyla might be right about O'Neill. After all, if memory served, they had both been single during their long years together on SG-1, and given the close nature of such teams, it certainly wasn't unusual for more intimate relationships to develop, despite military regulations discouraging such behavior. And while she wasn't really John's type, Sam was undoubtedly an attractive woman, in more ways than one. Certainly her many attributes wouldn't have gone unnoticed by O'Neill.

She turned to face John. "We'll check in back here in two hours," she stated, her authoritative tone instantly snapping him out of his musings regarding her potential love life.

"Yes, ma'am," John replied sharply, his attention now fully returned to the emergency at hand.

John took a few minutes to dispatch his guards before taking Ronon and Teyla to check the primary entrance points on Atlantis to see if anything seemed out of place. They searched several different locations - the south pier, the cargo hold, the jumper bay, even the underwater mobile drilling dock - but ultimately found nothing.

Exactly two hours later, John's team returned to find several guards stationed outside the control room and the Atlantis leadership team once again gathered around the main console.

"Any luck?" Sam asked him as they approached.

John shook his head. "Sorry, Colonel. We weren't searching for long, but didn't find anything that looked suspicious. It's possible the intruder's in an unexplored part of the City. Have you been able to narrow down a location?"

She turned toward a clearly frustrated McKay. "Rodney?"

"Ah," he hedged, "we're still working on that." Catching the eye-roll that John tried yet failed to suppress, he confronted the military man. "What?" he demanded, gesturing toward him with an outstretched hand. "Oh, sure, you had the easy part."

"Colonel," Chuck interrupted, before John had a chance to respond. "I have been able to find one important piece of information." All heads turned toward the 'gate technician. "I think I've gotten the City to tell us when the intruder arrived. It looks like our population increased by one just after Colonel Carter and Doctors McKay and Keller returned from M5V-801."

"The planet where Sam broke her leg?" Rodney asked, and Chuck nodded.

It took a moment of stunned silence for the team to fully process the implications of that particular pronouncement before Sam finally voiced the conclusion they had all reached. "Then someone, or something, came back through the gate with us."

John couldn't help but feel slightly defensive. "I coordinated that medical evacuation, Colonel. I'm confident no one came through the 'gate other than our own personnel."

"No one that you _saw_," Rodney added, much to John's obvious consternation. "You said it yourself - the intruder might be cloaked."

Sam let out a heavy sigh. "Well, if he's using some sort of cloaking device, we definitely won't be able to find him until we disable it."

Rodney bent down to ask something of Zelenka, who had joined him in the control room earlier. He turned to address the group. "Luckily for all of you, I've just put the finishing touches on the particle wave scanner," Rodney pronounced, earning him a scowl from Zelenka. "If the intruder is cloaked, he won't be for long."

"Which will either expose him..." John began.

"Or send him into hiding," Sam finished for him. "I know. But I'd rather not have to try to find him if he's invisible, too. I've already informed all personnel to be on the lookout for anyone who seems out of place." She looked at the scientists. "Ready?"

Both Rodney and Zelenka nodded. "Ready," they answered in unison.

Sam gave them a nod, and Rodney touched the control panel. A bright light swept the room, but nothing more happened. The group looked around the tower to find everything as it was before.

"That was it?" John asked.

Rodney bristled. "What? Were you expecting bells and whistles?"

"I just thought, you know," John shrugged, "there'd be more to it."

Ronon cocked a half grin. "I'm guessing he gets that a lot."

"Hey!" Rodney protested, but Teyla had to duck her head to hide her smile.

Chuck looked up at Sam from the display. "All reports are normal, Colonel."

"Are you sure it worked?" Ronon asked, still smirking.

"Yes, I'm sure it worked!" Rodney insisted, but he immediately leaned toward Zelenka and whispered, "It did work, didn't it?" causing the other scientist to huff in frustration.

As usual, Sam chose to ignore the exchange, preferring to refocus her scientists on finding a solution to their problem.

"Okay Rodney, you and Zelenka keep working with Chuck on the database. See if you can find anything that will give us some clue where this guy is." She turned to address John. "In the meantime, Colonel Sheppard, I'll need your teams to keep searching. Maybe now that our intruder's exposed, you'll have more luck."

Sam swayed suddenly, and John caught her by her elbow just before she fell. "Colonel?"

"Sorry," she replied, somewhat flustered. "I think I've been standing on this cast too long."

John had to acknowledge that it was fairly late, and they'd all been working for several hours. Still, he'd never seen Sam show any sign of weakness and certainly not in the middle of crisis, regardless of how exhausted she was.

"Maybe you should take a break," he said quietly, just to her.

"Yeah, that might be a good idea." She looked at him almost gratefully. "I'm leaving you in charge, John. But call me the moment you find anything."

"Yes, ma'am," he replied, but he stared after her in concern until she disappeared down the corridor leading to her quarters.

It was only when their voices rose to a fever pitch that he realized that Rodney and Zelenka were actively debating whether it was possible that they'd brought back a ghost through the gate.

He chuckled with Ronon at their antics. Yet he couldn't shake the thought that something about this whole thing was off, not the least of which was that Sam clearly wasn't acting like herself.

TBC...


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Frustrated with her lack of stamina, Sam slowly made her way to her quarters with the intent of taking a short nap and then rejoining the rest of her team in the control tower. She knew she probably should have stayed, but she was just too exhausted. Stupid broken leg. She still couldn't believe she'd fallen off those boxes. If she'd known she'd be spending the next eight weeks in a cast, she might never have chanced the climb, even if had meant flashing a bunch of ten-year-old boys, Rodney McKay included.

Okay, she didn't really mean that. It was just that she could not wait to get out of that damn cast. She leaned down to scratch at the dry skin under the plaster, before stopping at her door to push the button to open it.

Before she touched it, however, the door slid open of its own accord. She wondered if Rodney had finally installed the sensors he'd been talking about so often lately. He'd insisted it was cool, that he could turn the City into the Starship Enterprise, but she secretly suspected he was just jealous that John could open all the doors on Atlantis with his mind, and he still couldn't, despite the ATA gene therapy.

Chuckling to herself, she entered her quarters and made a beeline to the bathroom. Once again, the door opened on its own, before she pressed the button. She supposed she should have appreciated that Rodney hadn't forgotten about her interior spaces, but the thought that the nosy scientist had been poking around her private quarters without her permission irked her. Like a lot of things, these days.

As she moved toward the sink to wash her hands, once again the water began to flow without her having done a thing. That brought her up short, because not only had she not known Rodney was tinkering with the plumbing; she wasn't even close to the sink. Nevertheless, she was simply too tired to dwell, so she just finished washing her face before attempting to struggle out of her uniform, which of course got hung up on her cast. After she'd finally freed herself from her jumpsuit with no small amount of swearing (why the hell hadn't they thought to design a uniform with separate pants and jacket?), she finally made her way toward the bed.

The moment she lowered herself onto the edge of the mattress, she dropped her head into her hands. God, she was bone tired, despite the fact that it was only - she raised her head to glance at the clock and groaned - a little after eight. Her bed, however, was quite comfy, and she gave some serious thought to turning in for the night.

Suddenly, the lights began to flicker. She considered calling the control room to make sure they weren't experiencing some sort of power fluctuation, but as she reached over to hit to the button for the comm, she was immediately distracted by the picture on her nightstand - the one she usually kept hidden in the drawer. It was a picture of Jack in his green BDUs, younger than he was now, but with the same cocky grin he still gave her whenever he saw her. Not that it happened that often now.

She picked up the picture, and let out a long sigh as she stared at his tanned face. As the seconds ticked by, she realized with some degree of alarm that she was actually getting a bit misty. Touching her index finger to the side of her nose, she caught an errant tear just as it escaped the corner of her eye. She stared at the offending drop in disbelief and wondered what the hell was wrong with her.

Another long sigh escaped, this one from the heart. Really, it was just that she missed him so much, now more now than ever. The distance had been harder than she'd originally thought it would be when she first accepted the assignment to Atlantis. Jack, of course, had supported her decision to go wholeheartedly. But she'd always suspected that he'd much rather have her with him - if not in the same city, then at least in the same galaxy. He'd all but told her as much on her latest leave.

The thought brought to mind their last night together several months earlier, before she'd returned to Atlantis. He'd promised her then that he was retiring soon and that they could finally be together, that they wouldn't have to hide their relationship anymore. He'd told her in no uncertain terms how much he loved her, something she'd already known, of course, but rarely heard voiced. And then...well, then he'd spent the rest of the night showing her just how much. Almost instantly, she flushed, remembering the way he'd touched her, how her body had responded to his, and a familiar pang of longing shot through her core.

A wave of nausea overwhelmed her, and she felt unexpectedly dizzy, far worse than she had in the control room. As she lay back down, it occurred to her that she really hadn't felt that all that good for a while now - ever since she returned from M5V-801. That thought caused her to sit up with a start, concerned, as she realized that the timing of her malaise coincided with both her return from the planet and the arrival of the intruder.

Without warning, the overhead lights in her room began to flicker again before abruptly shutting off completely. In the darkness, Sam heard her bathroom door start opening and closing, going haywire, while the water hit the sink with full force in intermittent bursts. Quickly, she reached over to flip the switch on the light by her nightstand. But just as she was about to contact the control room, Rodney called her instead.

"Sam?" he asked, his voice slightly panicky. "Are you alone?"

She refused to let his propensity toward histrionics affect her. "Yes," she replied, doing her best to keep her tone even, though she could feel her heartbeat pick up speed.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, of course!" she replied immediately, but she looked quickly around the room anyway, just to be sure. She didn't see anyone - or anything - else there, but other than the light on her nightstand, the room was dark. Honestly, she couldn't see very well past the end of her bed.

She heard Rodney take a deep breath. "Okay. Sheppard's on his way."

At that moment, all of the lights in the room started flickering again, while the bathroom door still slid back and forth and the sink continued to turn on and off in fits and starts.

Sam was starting to lose her patience. "Rodney, what the hell is going on?" she demanded.

"It's just that...um," he hesitated. "We think we might have found the intruder."

Well, that was unexpected, she thought. "Where?"

"Actually, uh..."

"Rodney!"

The scientist began talking fast, his words tumbling over one another. "The system is telling us that he's in your quarters." He paused for a beat, making his next words even more ominous. "With you."

Sam gasped, as she felt panic welling in her chest. Everything stopped suddenly, and all the lights turned off at once, plunging the room into total darkness. She knew then that she needed to get out of that room, but when she stood, she immediately felt lightheaded.

Her last thought, before she passed out, was of Jack.

TBC...


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Rodney watched Sam as she slept in the infirmary. He didn't fully understand what had happened to her, but he was glad she was okay. Yet as he stared at her, he began to wonder why she hadn't woken up yet. Jennifer had already confirmed that she wasn't seriously injured. So why was she still unconscious?

Maybe if he kissed her she'd wake up, he thought. He inched a little closer. She looked like Sleeping Beauty. Yep, and he was her Prince. Of course he was. Just one little peck...

Quickly, he glanced around the infirmary to confirm that the others were paying no attention to him. Satisfied that they were oblivious to his intent, he began moving toward her face, when her eyelids fluttered and without warning she sat straight up in bed with a gasp, startling Rodney and sending him tripping backwards over his own feet. He recovered himself just in time to catch Jennifer glaring at him, almost as though she could read his mind.

His face reddened and he instantly felt sheepish, though he didn't really have time to think about why because Sam was now fully awake and most of the Atlantis leadership team had gathered by her bedside along with him. He sighed. Perhaps it was for the best, under the circumstances, especially considering that she wasn't completely herself. Or so they had concluded.

No stranger to waking up in a hospital bed, it only took a few moments for Sam to get her bearings. "What happened?" she demanded of no one in particular.

Jennifer quickly checked her vitals and gave her a small smile. "Colonel Sheppard found you passed out in your room. You hit your head, and you're a little dehydrated, but otherwise, you're fine."

"Did you find the intruder?" This time she directed her question to John.

He exchanged an uneasy glance with Rodney. "Uh, not exactly," he drawled.

She frowned. "Colonel?" Her crisp tone indicated that she wanted straight answers and she wanted them now.

John stood a little taller. "I searched your room after the medics arrived to take you to the infirmary, but I didn't find anything. So I asked Rodney to check the system and, well, that's when things got a little weird..." He winced.

At her puzzled look, Rodney attempted to explain. "The system indicated that the intruder had moved to the infirmary, that it had, um, followed you."

"What?" she asked, incredulous. Rodney could certainly understand. It was downright creepy. In fact, he hadn't even told her the strangest part, but he thought he'd leave that to John. "Did anyone see anything?" she asked.

John shook his head. "No, no one saw a thing. We've checked the system several times since, but it just keeps saying the intruder is here."

Sam looked around the room, somewhat alarmed. "Right now?"

Rodney nodded vigorously. "Yes. We ran the particle wave scan a second time, this time focused only on the infirmary, but nothing happened."

"Again," added Ronon with a grin, and Rodney just glared at him.

"Then we've got someone with a cloak who's impervious to your scan."

Before Rodney could take further offense, John responded. "Um, we don't think so, Colonel." He shot another uncomfortable look at Rodney. "We've been able to refine the locator, and it seems that the intruder is, well, _in_ you."

The lights in the infirmary flickered and Sam scowled. "What do you mean, 'in me'?"

Rodney looked around nervously. Frankly, Sam was starting to scare him a little bit. He could feel tiny beads of sweat starting to form on his brow when she turned her steely gaze on him.

"It, uh, doesn't seem to want to leave you," Rodney stammered. "We think that it's somehow...part of you. That someone, or something, might have hitched a ride with you from the planet."

Her irritation was obvious. "Are you saying that you think I'm possessed?" Instantly, the lights in the infirmary flashed off, then on again.

All of them, even Ronon, were eyeing the Colonel a little suspiciously now. As for Rodney, it was becoming obvious to him that what he first thought was something benign might not be so harmless after all. Still, he just couldn't help himself. "Well, um," he shrugged, "it wouldn't be the first time, right?"

"I am not possessed!" Sam snapped at him, and the lights flashed brightly before several exploded in their sockets, sending all the team members scrambling for cover and casting the infirmary in the dim glow of the backup lighting.

Rodney let loose a terror-stricken yelp. It was more than he could take - his worst fear, come to life. Sam, his gorgeous, buxom beauty, the only one he'd ever met who had come close to rivaling his substantial intelligence, had been turned into an irate she-devil by some strange and mysterious force on M5V-801.

He crossed his two index fingers in front of him. "Back, demon!" he said to her, as he started to retreat. He looked desperately at the others. "Oh, god, why didn't we think to include a priest in the expedition?"

As everyone began to recover themselves, however, Rodney could see that Sam and John looked like they wanted to kill him; Ronon seemed relaxed, though he kept his hand on his weapon; while Teyla and Jennifer simply appeared thoughtful. In his opinion, all of them were clearly too dense to appreciate their danger.

Jennifer was the first to approach him. "It's okay, Rodney," she said in a soothing voice. "There's no need to panic."

"But, but, but...Sam's been overtaken by an alien demon!"

"I don't think so," she said calmly before turning to address Sam. "Actually, I have a hunch about what's going on here, and I'd like to try an experiment. If you don't mind, Colonel." Sam hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement. "Can you bring the lights back up?"

"You want me to get up and find the switch?" she asked, confused.

Jennifer shook her head. "No. I want you to do it from the bed. By _thinking_ about it."

Sam gave her a questioning look, but then composed herself and closed her eyes, presumably deep in thought. After several seconds, the remaining intact lights in the infirmary flickered to life.

"Oh god, it's got mind control!" Rodney exclaimed, as he inched closer to the door.

Jennifer, ignoring Rodney, headed toward the business end of the infirmary. "I'll be right back," she said over her shoulder. "I need to run one more test."

Sam looked as surprised as everyone else. "But...how? How did I do that?" she asked the group.

"The ATA gene," Teyla offered, with a knowing smile.

Sam shook her head. "I never had the therapy."

Teyla was unfazed. "In this case, the therapy was unnecessary." John lifted a single eyebrow at her, but she refused to explain further.

The team sat in an uneasy silence for a few minutes, deep in their own thoughts, before Jennifer finally returned and quickly ushered everyone out of the infirmary. Just before the doors closed, though, Rodney caught a part of the conversation between doctor and patient.

"Jennifer? What is it?" Sam asked.

"Nothing bad," she replied. "Though you might find this a little surprising..."

As they made their way back to the control tower, John turned on Teyla. "Okay, Emmagan. Give it up. What's going on?"

"Where have you been?" Rodney interrupted. "We've already covered this. She's possessed by an evil spirit."

Teyla chuckled. "Not exactly. Though she is currently sharing her body with another."

John stopped dead in his tracks. "Wait a minute...Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Teyla nodded. "Colonel Carter is with child. Specifically, one who carries the Ancient gene."

"She's wha-?" Rodney looked bug-eyed at John because, really, _this_ was his worst fear. "How could you? I thought you were my friend!"

John gaped at him, appalled. "Rodney, you dumbass! It's not mine!"

"But, but, but...it has the Ancient gene," he whined.

"Well, I'm not the only one who carries it!" John exclaimed, clearly exasperated.

But Teyla just looked smug. "And who else might we know who has the gene - and is close to Colonel Carter?"

John groaned as realization dawned. "Aw, crap."

Teyla looked even smugger.

"What? Who? Who else has the gene?" Rodney asked.

John sighed. "General O'Neill."

TBC...

**A/N - So, did you guess? One more chapter to go...**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

John leaned over the railing on a balcony in the control tower and glanced at the inactive Stargate. Any second now those chevrons would start to light up, signaling the imminent arrival of the primary source of Rodney McKay's sour mood.

As though he could hear his thoughts, the scientist stated, more to himself than to John, "I still say it's not O'Neill."

"Come on, Rodney," John replied. "Give it up. The man himself is on his way here right now."

"That doesn't prove anything."

John gave him a withering look. "Really? So why do you think he's coming all the way to Atlantis, then?"

"How should I know?" Rodney whined. "Look, she hasn't even told us she's pregnant."

John felt as though he were explaining the situation to a twelve year old - which, in some ways, he supposed he was. "Well, she's not going to tell us before she tells him."

At that, Rodney completed deflated. "It's just...she wouldn't do that," he said after a minute.

"Which part, exactly?" John queried. Surely, his friend wasn't that thick.

But Rodney just ignored the question. "She deserves better."

"Oh, someone like you, I assume."

"Yes, precisely!" Completely oblivious to the eye-roll John gave him, he decided to press his argument. "Besides, the timing doesn't match up. If she's pregnant with his kid then why didn't the system register the additional life form until after she returned from M5V-801?"

John sighed. "We've discussed this, Rodney. The system picked up the baby when Dr. Keller scanned her to treat her broken leg."

"That's only a theory," the scientist said petulantly, crossing his arms in front of him.

John was saved from further argument, however, because the 'gate began to light up at just that moment. He and Rodney watched as Sam walked awkwardly down the steps from the control room to stand before the giant portal. She shifted on her cast a little and adjusted her uniform.

By the time the last chevron engaged, Teyla and Jennifer had joined John and Rodney on the balcony to watch the much anticipated arrival of "the man from Washington," as Jennifer had taken to calling him.

"She looks nervous," Jennifer said.

"I imagine she is," replied Teyla.

The event horizon settled into a familiar blue puddle, and a few seconds later the impressive figure of General Jack O'Neill, in full dress blues, emerged.

Jennifer let out a low whistle. "You weren't kidding when you said he was handsome," she said to Teyla.

"Oh, please," Rodney interjected. "It's the uniform. I'm sure if I put on that costume, you'd be fawning all over me too."

John looked at him, slightly aghast, but Jennifer just stared straight ahead and smiled. Meanwhile, Sam saluted Jack with a sharp, "Sir!" that the four of them could just barely hear from their position on the upper deck.

"Carter," he drawled, giving her a lazy salute accompanied by a half grin in return. "How's the leg?"

Instantly, she dropped the formality and even from their position on the balcony the group could see that she was beaming at him. "Better, thanks." They began to walk away from the gate.

"We have soooo won this bet," Jennifer whispered to Teyla. She immediately got shushed for her trouble, though, as Jack had started talking again.

"So, Carter," he said as he walked with her up the steps. "I've come all the way across not one but two galaxies and have just spent the last 24 hours in the sole company of Dr. Lee, which is not an experience I relish repeating." He stopped and cocked his head at her. "You wanna tell me now what it is you couldn't tell me over the comm?" He may have been complaining, but there was an unmistakable twinkle in his eyes.

Sam, however, was now visibly nervous. She clasped her hands together and bit her lip. "Um, why don't we go into my office?"

Jack extended his arm in a lead-the-way-type gesture, then followed her up the remaining stairs into the glass enclosed space.

"Okay," John began, "so how do we watch what happens without being completely obvious?"

"Just turn and face us, like we're talking in a group," Jennifer suggested.

But once they were positioned for conversation, John and Teyla were left standing with their backs to Sam's office, giving Jennifer and Rodney the best view.

"I can't see," John complained.

"Nor can I," added Teyla, but by then Jennifer was already glancing over her shoulder at the goings-on in Sam's office.

"What's happening?" John asked.

Jennifer was all too happy to provide a play-by-play. "Colonel Carter is talking, and the General-"

"Is just standing there looking like a jackass," Rodney interrupted.

Jennifer continued narrating. "Colonel Carter has stopped talking."

John found himself inexplicably anxious. "What's the General doing?"

"He's just staring at her."

"He's not saying anything?" Teyla asked, and her own concern was reflected in her tone.

Jennifer responded, clearly equally worried: "No, he actually looks a little...stunned."

"Stunned?" John queried. "That doesn't sound good."

"No, it's n- Oh!" Jennifer began, before stopping abruptly and turning a deep shade of crimson. "Oh my."

"Oh no," Rodney said at exactly the same time.

"What?" Teyla and John demanded in unison.

But before Jennifer and Rodney could supply an answer, they turned around to see what was happening for themselves.

All four could only stare as they watched General Jack O'Neill give Colonel Samantha Carter a searing kiss, one that quickly moved from passionate to borderline scandalous as she threaded her fingers through his silver hair and he bent her slightly backwards over her desk.

Rodney began sputtering. "This is...this is completely inappropriate! Don't they know everyone can see them?"

"I don't think they care," John offered.

Jennifer snorted. "I know I wouldn't."

"Nor I," added Teyla.

Jack and Sam were still kissing when the windows in her office started to cloud and then became completely opaque.

"I think she's getting the hang of the ATA gene," John said.

Rodney only had one reply to that pronouncement: "Aw, nuts."

oOoOoOo

_Three days later..._

Sam had just placed the last of her framed photos in a box when she looked up to find a small group gathering in her office to say goodbye. She smiled at the people who had become not only her co-workers but her friends over the past several months. While she was thrilled to be returning to the SGC so she and Jack could raise their child on Earth, there was a small part of her heart that would always remain in Atlantis.

"I'm really going to miss you guys."

"We will miss you as well, Colonel," Teyla replied.

John grunted. "Yeah, and especially after Woolsey gets here."

Sam grinned. "You'll be okay. I'm certain of it." She closed the box and decided that it was far past time to address the elephant in the room. "So," she began, "I imagine you all must be wondering about General O'Neill and me."

"Nah," John responded immediately.

"It's really none of our business," Jennifer added.

"Yes, actually," Rodney said at the same time.

Sam ducked her head, but when she looked up there was a light in her eyes that hadn't been there before. "We're married. We've been married for about a year now, in fact."

"But...but I thought that sort of thing wasn't allowed..." Rodney stuttered.

"Well, Jack has never really been one to play by the rules. He told the President that he was planning to retire so that we could be together, but the President felt he couldn't afford to lose him, so he made an exception." Sam shrugged. "The only catch was that we couldn't tell anyone."

"Which made things 'complicated'," Jennifer supplied.

"Yes," Sam acknowledged. "And then I got pregnant, which has really thrown a wrench in the works. As you know, that was quite unexpected."

"Yeah, you might have scared us a little with the whole intruder thing." John waved his hands around airily. "Ghosts in the infirmary, lights exploding in their sockets..."

Sam let out a small laugh. "Yes, I am sorry about that. I scared myself, too. But it never occurred to me that I could interact with the City without the ATA gene. And I certainly never thought I was pregnant. With all I've been through..." She paused and placed a hand over her abdomen. "It's nothing short of a miracle."

"We're really happy for you, Colonel," Jennifer said earnestly.

"We are," agreed John. He cast a disapproving glare in the direction of one moping scientist. "Even Rodney."

At the sound of his name, Rodney's head popped up. "What?" John elbowed him in the ribs. "Oh, yes. Yes, I am."

On that note, Jack practically bounded into Sam's office but stopped short when he saw the team gathered around his wife. "Ah. Sorry to interrupt." He greeted each of them in turn. "Dr. Keller, Sheppard, Teyla, good to see you again." He gave a curt nod in Rodney's general direction. "McCade."

"General," responded John instantly.

"It's McKa-" Rodney began through gritted teeth, but Jack cut him off mid-sentence.

"Ready to go, Sam?" He picked up her box of belongings.

She nodded and gave each member of her team a hug, including Rodney, who finally smiled when she put her arms around his neck.

"Dial us up!" Jack shouted to Chuck, and he and Sam made their way out of her office and down the stairs as the technician punched in the coordinates for the Midway Station. Just as the final chevron locked and the 'gate sprang to life, Sam looked back toward her team one last time.

"Congratulations!" Rodney called after them from the balcony just outside her office. "And don't worry about us. We'll be fine. Yep. Just fine." And without warning, he grabbed Jennifer around the waist, pulled her to him, and planted a kiss on her cheek.

Everyone was momentarily stunned, including Jennifer, until much to the group's even greater surprise, she turned and gave him a quick kiss in return, this time on the lips.

Sam grinned at Rodney's dumbstruck expression. "I believe you will." And with that, Jack and Sam, along with Atlantis' infamous intruder, disappeared into the event horizon.

"Well," Jennifer said, as though nothing had happened. "I think you gentlemen owe us some dessert."

"Yes, I believe that is correct," agreed Teyla.

"So we do," replied John.

The three of them began making their way toward the commissary, with John stopping only long enough to call out to the still speechless scientist, who remained rooted to the spot with a glazed look on his face.

"Come on, Rodney," John shouted over his shoulder.

But it was several minutes before he moved. "Wait for me!"

The End

**A/N - Thanks so much to all who have read, reviewed, followed and/or favorited! I hope you had as much fun reading this little piece of fluff as I had writing it and will forgive me for including an Atlantis tag in the SG-1 category. ;)**


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